Saturday, July 23, 2016

i 10th anniversary notes

"i" (2006) was the first studio album. Most of the songs were Polymer Bloom-era songs, except for Spage which was 100% new material for the album. "Terrapin Drop" and ""Pleasantries & Other Such Things" were never officially performed by Polymer Bloom, but rough demos were recorded, and "Briney" was only performed during a couple of the last few rehearsals. "Manvoice" was originally supposed to be a "Hardcore" Devo style song, that I came up with around 2001/2002, and eventually rewritten a few years later. It was going to be performed at the first "all-new" Polymer Bloom show in mid-2005 (which featured several new songs, and a new bass player) but that show was canceled after the band split up, which incidentally was the day of that show.

The first two tracks recorded for "i" were Manvoice and Fester. While the first albums was recorded and mixed in a very amateur manner, I always thought these first two songs stand out as slightly more competent than the rest. Some others, like Brown Towel, were a little more rough around the edges. Two of the tracks on that recording (I think the drums and guitar) had been recorded on an analog 4-track, and then copied onto a digital 8-track, where the bass and the vocals were added several months later. Which is a shame, because it's a fun song, and deserves a better quality recording than what it has. I may George Lucas it in the future...